Chapter 57 #2
I can’t—not when I know you’re hurting. My fingers curl at my side. And don’t say you’re not. I hear it in your voice. I may have you back, but it’s not really you.
I’m fine, he says, even as his sadness settles in my heart.
No, you’re not! I snap, frustration rising. You only talk when I force you to, and even then, you sound like you’re drowning. You don’t laugh. You don’t make jokes. You’re so sad, and I can’t help you because you won’t even tell me what happened.
Drop it! he snarls, anger flaring hot between us, scalding our bond. That’s the last time I’m telling you this.
Alex fades away before I can respond, practically slamming the door in my mind, and ignores all my attempts to reach him again. I stifle a groan, sinking my face into my hands. This isn’t working.
“Aiden,” I call, turning just as he pops his head out, eyes glimmering with hope.
“It’s not about that, you perv.” He deflates like a balloon. “Can you block out Max?”
He frowns as he steps into the hall, but doesn’t question me. He just nods before asking, “What’s up?”
“We need to fix whatever happened between Alex and Max.”
To my surprise, Aiden doesn’t miss a beat. “Agreed. But how, when they won’t even tell us what happened?”
“We’ve tried letting them do it their way, but Alex isn’t even trying anymore,” I say, pushing past the hurt. “I don’t want to force them, but I think we might have to.”
“Julian …” he begins in warning.
“We have to get them to talk,” I say before he can stop me. “Even if it takes trapping them together.”
“That’s the worst plan ever,” he deadpans, holding up a finger. “For one, the second they realise what we’re doing, they’ll be pissed at us—and right now, the only thing we have is that they’re at least still good with each of us.”
He adds another finger as he steps towards me. “Two, even if we push them to the forefront, they’ll just shove us right back.” A third. “Three, say we do it, and they’re stuck together—if it doesn’t work out between them and things get even worse, we could lose them.”
“We won’t,” I insist. “They just need time together. Doing nothing isn’t helping. We can figure out a way to make sure they stay in control, and once they do, they’ll make up. I know they will.”
Aiden folds his arms over his chest, visibly uncomfortable.
“I got Alex back, but he’s not the same,” I whisper. “He’s sad, Aiden. I can feel it, like this weight on my chest, and it’s eating away at him—at us. And he won’t talk about it. I know you’ve tried with Max and it’s the same. We have to do something, Aiden.”
Aiden studies me in silence, trying to find a solution to this that doesn’t exist without doing something our wolves won’t like. But it’s for their own good, and he knows it.
“I do not support this,” he states with a heavy sigh.
“Do you have a better plan?”
He scowls. “No.”
“Then this is what we’re doing,” I state.
“I really don’t think th—”
“It’s decided,” I say, cutting him off before he can backpedal. Unimpressed, Aiden glowers at me, but we both know I’ve got him in a corner.
“Don’t pout,” I coo, grinning at him. “There’s no reason to be upset. We’ve always known I’m the smarter one.”
“And when you say ‘we’,” he begins, eyes narrowing as he takes the last step towards me, “are you talking about you and your delusions—”
I huff a laugh that tugs his lips upwards.
“Or are you suddenly picking up French?”
“You’re such an idiot,” I chuckle, hating him, and myself, for finding that funny.
He grins proudly as he slides his arms around my waist, drawing me in close. I give in, already leaning forward—until I freeze.
“Oh, come on!” Aiden whines. “Just a peck.” I shove him back, and that whine turns into a sob. “Jewels!”
“No!”
“Guess who’s back!”
Aiden and I jolt, both turning towards Katerina—standing in our apartment as if this is our usual Tuesday.
When I first stumbled upon her in the woods, I never imagined I’d see her again, let alone three more times in the same month.
But here she stands, a giddy version of that scared girl.
She looks healthier, brighter—almost glowing.
Gone are those strange black and red leathers; instead, she wears a white blouse with billowing sleeves, and at her waist, a wide belt adorned with daggers and glowing vials hangs above her loose trousers.
She doesn’t look quite like a witch, but she doesn’t look like a vagrant either.
“What are you doing here?” Aiden all but snarls at his newfound friend. She ignores him entirely, jumping around with unbridled excitement.
“Full strength!” she screams, making us wince. “It’s time to go kill everyone in my coven!”
“That’s … dark,” I mutter, giving her a once-over.
“It is what it is.” She shrugs, glancing between us. “I came to cash in on that favour.”
That syphons all the air out of the room.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she grumbles as her excitement visibly wilts. “It’s nothing bad. Plus, we made terms, remember? I can’t force you to do anything if you genuinely don’t want to.”
“Then what is it?” Aiden asks before I can.
She deflates, though she’d really have to be nuts to expect enthusiasm. Sure, she and Aiden seemed friendly last time they spoke, but she’s still a witch we owe a debt.
“I need someone to watch the coven borders,” she says, the words edged with reluctance. “Just in case someone tries to run.”
“No,” Aiden and I say in unison.
“Hells, let me finish!” she snaps, throwing up her hands. “I’m not asking you to kill anyone or join in on the fun. I just need one of you to just make sure no one escapes. If you catch them, just hold them until I come and get ‘em.”
“No,” we repeat, and I add, “Being there would be getting involved—helping you in any way would be getting involved. And if the Board found out—”
“—we’d be screwed,” Aiden finishes. “We’re not doing that.”
Forget the Council, if we got tangled up in witch business, the Supernatural Board would be on our asses and that’s not a risk we’re about to take.
“But they won’t find out,” Katerina insists, her tone slipping into a whine eerily similar to Aiden’s a few minutes ago. “By the time they find out anything happened to my coven, it’ll be too late. They’ll all be dead, and no one will be able to track it back to me.”
“And you know that, how?” Aiden challenges.
“Nobody even knows I exist. And I’m an Amorenia,” she says proudly, only when neither of us reacts to that, she rolls her eyes. “I’m powerful. I’m very fucking powerful. You guys have seen what I can do,” she replies with a pause. “I can cover my tracks, and I can cover yours.”
“Still no,” I say flatly, crossing my arms. “We can’t and won’t help you commit mass murder just because you feel like it.”
“It’s not just because I feel like it!” she snaps, and the air changes instantly. The playful edge is gone—her eyes flood poisonous violet, and her magic lashes through the room in unseen ribbons. “They fucking deserve it. This is justice. It’s a mercy.”
We don’t move an inch. It’s not a threat, not an attack, but uncapped magic fuelled by barely caged emotions. It’s bleeding out of her, uncontrolled, fuelled by something dark.
“And it’s not murder,” she snarls as she glares at us—at me. “What they did is murder.”
My hackles rise to defend myself, but I can’t figure out how as I stare into her eyes and see the type of pain I saw too often in the mirror. The one that sparked fresh whenever I glimpsed framed amber eyes. She lost someone, too.
“Need something to placate your conscience?” she asks bitterly, pulling back her sleeve. The skin beneath is smooth at first—then ink unfurls beneath her glare, twisting into spirals that rise as welts.
A shiver rushes down my spine as I stare at the marks … the ones that now cover every inch of her skin, even her elbows. It’s all over her, every inch of her.
Anger churns in my gut, but it’s nothing compared to the sour rage that sprouts inside Aiden. It roils through our bond, making my insides twist uncomfortably because I know what this means.
“They go all over,” Katerina says in a breathless whisper before she snatches her trembling arm back and locks it to her chest. The scars vanish, hidden once again by smooth skin.
“The people in my coven did that. And I’m going to kill them for it—for that and every other fucking thing they ever did to me. ”
Her voice shakes, but her resolve doesn’t. “Now, I’m asking you to just fucking stand guard while I do. It’s not hard. I could ask for so much worse, but I’m not. So are you going to help me, or what?”
Before Aiden even turns to me, I know what he’s going to say. Just as I know that there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
“You think you can take out an entire coven?” I ask, locking eyes with her. The fire is still simmering in hers, but I see the same fracture lines from her past as the man standing beside me.
“I can,” she says simply. “I have enough power to take out six. I only need Aiden in case someone slips away.”
Aiden. She says his name like she already knows he’s the one going with her.
“There will be two of you against Goddess knows how many of them,” I say, tightening my fingers around my mate’s. “We don’t know how strong they are, and I’m not willing to put my mate’s life on the line.”
“Julian, I’ll be fine,” Aiden murmurs, but we both ignore him. This is between her and me.
“I won’t let him get hurt,” she vows. I part my lips, but she rushes on.
“I’ve got a failsafe spell—one that’ll send him home at the first sign of any real danger.
It’ll activate without a thought from me, and it already has the power needed for it.
Even if I’m down, it’ll work. Nothing will happen to him. ”
I watch her closely, knowing she’s telling the truth, but that’s not why I stare at her.
I want her to see—really see—what will happen if she’s wrong.
If anything happens to my mate, anything at all, I would find a way to make her pay. I don’t care how strong she is. Patience is a virtue, and I’d use it to lock her down and bleed every drop of power from her veins before I kill her myself.
Something in my expression must get through, because she nods slowly. I return the gesture before I finally turn to my mate.
“Be safe,” I say, my chest suddenly too tight. “Mask your scent and keep your eyes open. Don’t go running into danger. And I swear to Goddess, Aiden—if you let anything happen to you, I’ll come kill you myself.”
He grins, pressing a quick kiss to my lips. I allow him this one as I pat his chest and step back. He eases his way over to Katerina’s side, and she slowly relaxes.
I tilt my head, wondering if Katerina actually needs one of us or if she just doesn’t know how to do this alone.
“How are you getting there?” I ask warily as I feel her magic gathering again.
“Oh, you haven’t seen her teleport!” Aiden gasps with sudden excitement. “It’s actually really cool. She doesn’t say anything, she just suddenly—”
Disappears. They disappear into thin air. No sound, no light, no trace. I just stand there for a moment, blinking at the space they’d occupied. Worry sparks, but I shove it down.
I have to put my faith in Katerina, there’s no other choice.
She might be a witch, but so far, she’s always kept her word. And she was right—she could’ve asked for far worse.
Whether she realised it or not, she just secured the best person to help her through this.
I just hope her demons aren’t as vicious as his.